Filling-machine



J. SCHAUB.

FILLING MACHINE.

APPLICATION mm lULY 5.191s.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

.I. SCHAUB.

FILLING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 5,1919.

4 SHEETS'SHEET 2.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

.lr SCHAUB.

FILLING MACHINE.

'APPLICATION FILED JULY 5.191s.

,397,184, PatentedNov.15,1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

E [L i J. SCHAUB.

FILLING MACHINE.

APPL|CAT|0H FILED JULY 5.191s.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

NM w u w m Ff llll.

JACOB SCI-IA'UIB, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T0 THE THEROZ COMPANY, OF

NEW YORK, N. .Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWVARE.

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Application filed. July 5, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1. Jason Serrano, a citizen of the United States, and residing in Newark, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Filling-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines for filling receptacles, especially cans, with fluid or semi-fluid materials temporarily liquefied solid materials, particularly what is known as solidified alcohol, fats, oils of various kinds, especially edible vegetable oils, syrups, molasses, paratlin and cold creams and the like, and has for its Ob? jects the provision of a simple, efficient and durable mechanism adapted to supply a predetermined quantity of such materials to the receptacles to be filled.

Heretofore, various machines have been constructed for supplying such fluid or semi- .fluid material to containers to be filled therewith, but either the mechanism thereof was such as not to lend itself to convenient adjustment so as to instantly vary the quantity of material being supplied, or else the machines were complicated and expensive and easily deranged, or the machine was found to be ill-adapted for supplying accurately regulated quantities of heavy viscous materials to the receptacles therefor at regulated intervals.

My invention is fully set forth and described in the accompanyingspecification and drawings forming a part thereof, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of a machine embodying my invention;

Figs. 1 and 1 are detailed plan views, with the shafts in section, along the lines 1, 1 and 1 1 respectively of Fig. 1;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the reverse side of said machine;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the position of the parts of the machine when in a filling position;

Fig. 41: is a partial plan view with the caps closed showing the cans being moved into the filling position;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary vertical section through the conveyor belt with the cans thereon shown in elevation;

Fig. 6 is a partial vertical section along the lines 6-6 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 7 is a detail elevation along the line 7 of Fig. 6;

Specification of Letters Latent.

fatcentetl Nov. 15, 1921.

Serial No. 243,267.

Fig. 8 is sectional view of the friction straps (not shown) and being'connected by i bolts 2. Longitudinal guides 3, 3 and l, i which preferably consist of angleirons are secured together by bars 5 to form a socalled magazine for the cans A which it is desired to fill.

The said guide members l, 4 are split at one end and their upper faces a. are curved upwardly so as to admit of the ready reception of cans beneath said faces when it is desired to insert the same into said magazine. The same upper faces of said guides are cut partially away at the opposite ends 5 to permit of the ready removal of said cans when filled. A cutoff or delivery receptacle,

herein termed a bisected ladle or cuvette, is a formed by two hinged members 6, 6 respectively, that are mounted on shafts 7 and 7 carried by a bracket 8 rigidly supported from the longitudinal member 1 of said frame. The members 6, 6 are respectively provided with meshing gearsQ and 9 slidably fitted on shafts 7, 7, for removal, the gear 9 being keyed or otherwise secured to shaft 7. lhe shaft 7 is provided at its outer end with a segmental gear 10 which is rigidly secured thereto and adapted to be rotated to and fro as hereinafter described, whereby said ladle members will be alteriately forced into an open and shut position, as shown in Figs. 1 and 9 respectively. A belt conveyor 11 passes over rollers 12 and 13, the upper surface thereof being substantially in alinement with the upper horizontal faces 0 and c of the lower guides 3, 3 and as a consequence when said belt is driven, as hereinafter described, any cans placed upon the faces 0, c of said guides will be carried along by said belt until the same are delivered to an operator waiting to receive the same. An elbow-rack 1a which coacts with said segmental gear 10 intermittently actuates the ladle members in unison with the movement of a star feed-wheel 15 actuated by means of a special form of Geneva movement.

The elements of said Geneva movement consist of two parallelshafts 16 and 17 suitably mounted in the bracket 18, the former having a bevel gear 19 at its upper end which is adapted to mesh with a companion gear 20 on the shaft 21, journaled in said bracket 18, and carrying the positively driven roller or spool 12.

The said shaft 16 is provided with a spool member 22 which is adapted to receive between its flanges a serrated wheel 23, having six recesses 24, mounted on the shaft 17. A roller 2-5 is mounted between said flanges of the spool 22 and the same is adapted, when the shaft 16 is being rotated, to enter successively into each of the said six recesses thereby positively driving the wheel 23 through one-sixth revolution. In order to frictionally hold the shaft 17 against accidental movement, except when the wheel 23 is being rotated by the roller 25, 1 form an annular hub 26 on the end of the lower end of the spool 22 and secure a star wheel 27, having a sleeve 27, on the end of the shaft 17. The hub 26 is provided with a marginal recess 28, positioned immediately below the roller 25, which is of such a configuration as to admit of the successive reception of the respective points of the star wheel 27 during the rotation of the shafts 16 and 17. Accordingly, the periphery of the hub 26 will normally project between the two adjacent points of the star wheel 27 except during the brief interval when one of the points of said star is projecting into the recess 28, with the result that when the star wheel 27 is in the position shown in Fig. 1 it will remain stationary andthere will be no possibilty of the star feed wheel 15, which will be in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 6, being accidentally moved so as to displace a can from its filling position until the ladle members are in a substantially closed position. The shaft 21 is provided at its other end with a gear 29 which is splined thereto and a cam or hub-member 30 is secured to said gear. The cam is shown having an annular portion and provided with a recess 31 having an inclined steep face 32 and an inclined face 32 into.

which a roller'33, carried by thelong arm 14 of the elbow rack 14, is adapted'to periodically enter and leave when the gearwheel29 revolves counter clockwise in Fig. 1. Cam 30 is shown adjustably secured to gear 29 by means of a screw 29" passing through a slot in gear 29 and threaded in cam 30, (Figs. 2 and 6,) whereby the cam may be adjusted and retained in set position on gear 29 for timing the operation of the member 14.

The longer arm 14 of said elbow rack 14 is pivotally connected to a bar 14 which latter is in turn pivotally secured to the frame of the machine. A weight d is swung from said arm 14, and serves to cause said roller 33 to periodically drop into the recess 31 as it rides along the periphery of the hub 30.

The gear 29, carrying with it the disk or hub-1nember 30, is adapted to be actuated by a gear 34 rigidly secured on a shaft 35 which is journaled in the said frame. The outer end of said shaft 35 is provided with a gear 36 that is actuated by a worm 37 on the longitudinally extending shaft 38 which is connected by a knuckle 39 and intermediate shaft 46 and knuckle 41 to the shaft 42. A worm 43 on the shaft 42 engages a gear 44 on the shaft 45 carrying the roller 13. An electric motorB is adapted to drive a shaft 46 journaled in the frame of the machine, and the latter shaft, through an intermediate friction clutch mechanism, drives said shaft 38.

Said clutch mechanism consists of a friction drive-wheel 47 which is keyed on the shaft 46 so as to be longitudinally adjustable thereon and is adapted to frictionally engage and effect the rotation'of a disk member 48 rigidlyinounted on the end of the shaft 38.

In order to effect the accurate and convenient regulation of the speed of the shaft 38, I provide a spindle 49 which is mounted in the frame of the machine and carries a worm 50 by which the optional rotation of the shaft 38 is effected through the agency of a rack 51 slidably mounted in guides 52 and connected by a fork 53 to said drive wheel 47. Said guides 52 carry a stationary bearing 54 which receives shaft 46.

The regulation of the speed of the main shaft 38 is readily and instantly effected by merely rotating the hand wheel of the spindle 49 either in a clockwise direction to increase the speed of an anti-clockwise direction to decrease the speed and thereby the friction drive-wheel 47 is moved radially across the face of the disk wheel .48 with a result that the speed imparted to the said disk will vary in accordance with the radial position of the drive wheel 47 along the face of the disk wheel 48.

r In order that the ladle members may be readily removed for cleaning or for other reasons, I provide a spring-catch 56 which is secured at one end .to the bracket 8 and has an inturned end 57 that is adapted'to normally project into the annular grooves 58, 58 on the gears or pinions 9, 9; A bar 59 of semi-circular cross-section projects beneath said spring 56 and is-adapted to normally lie in the position shown in Fig. 6 but when turned through a one-half revolution by means of a handle 60 it will raise the spring 56 to a suflicient extent to releasethe pinions 9, 9 carried by the members 6, 6

and thereby permit of the removal of said lzadle members by pulling them off shafts The operation of the machine, as is apparent from the foregoing description, is as follows The shafts 88 and 40 are rotated by the motor through the friction-clutch mechanism, the latter being adjusted to the speed desired and the rotation of said shafts being in such a direction as to effect the rotation of the gear 29 and its cam-member 3O counter clockwise in Fig. 7. Thereupon the shafts 21 and -15, which carry the belt-con veyer rollers 12 and 18 respectively, will be rotated in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2. The shaft 16 which is geared to the shaft 21, will be revolved continuously, while the shaft 38 continues to rotate and at each revolution of said shaft 16 the roller 25 will advance the disk 28 through one sixth of a revolution thus causing the star feed wheel 15 to also advance one sixth of a revolution. Consequently, if a can is in engagement with one curvilinear face of said feed-wheel, such for example as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, it will be advanced toward the right hand side in Fig. 3 a distance equal substantially to the diameter of the can. Practically simultaneously with the movement of a can out of the filling position, the roller 33 will enter the recess 31 and this will cause the arm 14: of the elbow rack to drop and effect the rotation of the segmental pinion 10 sufficiently to move the shafts 7 and 7 into the position shown in Fig. 9, thus closing the cuvette temporarily while the next can is being moved into the filling position by the star feedwheel. The function of the belt-conveyer, which travels continuously as long as the shaft 38 rotates is to move each can forward until in contact with the can immediately in front of it, in order that the star feed-wheel 15 which holds each can, while being filled in a stationary position, can embrace the can immediately following the filled can as the latter is moved out of a filling position by the said belt.

The elapsed time between the opening and closing of the ladle as well as that during which the can being filled is held stationary, can be instantly adjusted by the mere manipulation of the hand-wheel on the spindle 49. As a consequence, after having adjusted the feed of the material to the can being filled, it becomes unnecessary to automati cally weigh each can when filled as is often customary in those cases where it is essential to have a minimum quantity of material packed in a container, as a mere occasional weighing of a can enables the operator to determine the exact quantity of material delivered into the can. As a consequence not only is it possible to dispense with ex pensive and complicated automatic weighing machines, but owing to the simplicity of my machine and its ease of adjustment and operation, a single operator is able to attend several machines and this obviously effects a not inconsiderable saving in the cost of manufacture.

The foregoing machine has been found to he especialiy enective for filling cans with what is known solidified alcohol while the same is in a fluent state as the necessity the employment of small delivery pipes which would on each stoppage of the machine become almost instantly clogged by tie rapidly solidifying of the material is entirely avoided and accordingly such material can be expeditiously packed in cans as conveniently almost as if it were a non viscous liquid.

in Fig. 1 I hav shown the cups 6, 6 spaced below a delivery nozzle X located over the receptacle can or to be filled, which nozzle may be in communication with any suitable supply for the liquid or material in a fluent state to be charged into the receptacles or cans. Such material flows continuously through said nozzle toward the cans below and the alternate closing and spreading apart of the cups will be such that when a can is about charged the cups will close to cut off the supply to the can without stopping the flow of the material from the nozzle, and the cups will remain closed until the succeeding empty can is placed beneath the cups whereupon they will spread to admit a charge into said can, and so on for successive cans. During the time that the cut-off cups are closed they will trap and temporarily accumulate a portion of the charge for the succeeding can so that when the cups next open or spread such part charge will be delivered into the cans to be followed by a further flow of material through the cups to be cut off when such can is filled, and so on. in other words, the construction disclosed is such that charges of desired size may be filled in the cans periodically in accordance with the time of successive operations of closing and opening the cups, whereby while the cups are open the material may continue to if w into the cans for the desired charge therein, the closing of the cups cutting off the material for each charge, the cups receiving and accumulating a portion of the next charge while the filled can is being removed and an empty can is placed under the cups, whereby the flow of the material for the cans may be continuous. The machine is particularly adapted for charging containers with pre determined quantities of fluent yet viscous material, such as set forth in my Letters Patent No. 1,262,267, granted April 8, 1918.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a machine for filling receptacles, the combination consisting of a bisected ladle having two substantially similar members mounted on separate parallel shafts, said shafts being provided with gears meshing with each other, a segmental gear secured to one of said shafts, a reciprocating rack co-acting with said segmental gear, means for effecting the to and fro movement of said rack at predetermined intervals whereby the alternate opening and closing of said ladle is effected, a feed mechanism including a star wheel, the latter being adapted to partially embrace a receptacle between two adjacent arms thereof, means including a Geneva movement for periodically moving and stopping said wheel in synchronism with the closing and opening of said ladle, a conveyer for supplying receptacles into a posi tion to be periodically embraced by said star wheel during the movement of the latter and means, including a friction drive mechanism for effecting the synchronous movement of said ladle members and said feed mechanism.

2. In a filling machine, the combination of a delivery nozzle for fluent material, a cut-oil spaced below said nozzle in the path of material therefrom, said cut-oil comprising complemental cup-like members pivotally supported on parallel shafts having meshing gears adapted to cause said members to close to out off and accumulate said material without stopping its flow from the nozzle, and to separate to deposit said accumulated material and permit the flow of additional material through the cut-oil, and means to periodically actuate said gears to open and close said members.

3. In a filling machine, the combination of a delivery nozzle for fluent material, a cut-off spaced below said nozzle in the path of material therefrom, said cut-oil comprising complemental cup-like members having opposing edges to meet adapted to close to cut off and accumulate said material without stopping its flow from the nozzle, and to separate to deposit said accumulated material and permit the flow of additional material through the cut-oil, parallel shafts rotatively supporting said members in spaced relation, gearing connecting said shafts for rocking them in opposite directions, and means to periodically operate said gearing to cause said members to open and close.

Signed at New York in the county 01 New York and State of New York, this 2nd day of July, 1918.

JACOB SCHAUB. 

